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Year 11 NEA Section B

Developing a design brief and specification

(10 marks out of 100)

Useful links

How to write a design brief (professional context)

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Another example of effective design brief (professional context

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Writing a design brief (BBC Bitesize)

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Note that there are no links for the specification here, please use the helpsheets below

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Project help

The brief and specification guide the development of your design from this point onwards and so they are incredibly important. They should be based on the research and analysis work you have already carried out and it should be very clear how these have influenced the content of both the brief and specification.

A few tips (for the brief):

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  1. ​Your brief should, well, be brief. It is short statement of intent that identifies the overarching scope of your project.

  2. In your research section, you should already have identified several design opportunities (briefs) and evaluated them so that you can choose the most appropriate

  3. The brief should include the following information:

    1. What you will design/make,

    2. Why it is needed,

    3. Who it is for,

    4. Where it will be used/sold,

    5. When it will be completed by

  4. It should provide more clarity than the 'context' provided by the examination board and it should be based on what you have managed to discover while doing your research

  5. It should be realistic and achievable in the time yo have available...there is no point trying to tackle something which is too big or complex to complete in the time and with the equipment we have available for us to use (if you do this you risk not finishing and therefor not getting the mark you deserve).

A few tips (for the specification):

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  1. ​The specification needs to be detailed and give specific parameters by which you can evaluate your work (ongoing and at the end).

  2. The content must be based on the research you have done and include what you know will make the project successful

  3. You can use ACCEESSFMM to help make sure you have all of the detail you need (see the help sheets below), but remember that you don't need equal information under each heading, and you don't need to repeat yourself i.e. if a point could be placed under more than one heading just pick one and put it there

  4. AVOID writing statements such as 'It must be the right size'. You should know the right size (or at least the max/min sizes) based on the research you have done, so put the information in here. Sizes should be in mm

  5. AVOID writing statements such as 'it must store things'. If you've done your research you should know what your target market wants to store, and how much/many items. Be specific about what you want to store (if this is appropriate to your brief)

  6. Each specification point must be justified (students usually add an extra column). If you can't explain why the point is needed, should it be there?

Helpsheets

Specification

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